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Thursday, July 24, 2014

RAHMAN’S FAMILY AND POWER IN TAJIKISTAN

A
giant poster covers the façade of the Agriculture Ministry in central Dushanbe.
It shows President Emamali Rahman standing in a field at harvest-time with a
sheaf of wheat in his arms.

The
imposing poster – one of hundreds throughout the country – is meant to remind
people of the benefits Tajiks have reaped from their president’s 21 year- rule.

The
more cynical among them, however, point out that when it comes to reaping the
benefits, the president’s family seem to have had a particularly successful
harvest.

President
Rahman has nine children. Most Tajiks can name all seven of his daughters
and his two sons. But two of them are particularly well known – his daughter
Azada Rahmanova, , and his son Rustam Emamali.

Azada
who is Rahman’s second child, served as cultural attaché in the Tajik
embassy in Washington before moving to her current role as deputy Foreign
Minister.

Azada
is married to Jamaliddin Nuraliev – currently deputy Finance Minister and
reportedly one of the wealthiest men in the country.

Azada’s
brother Rustam, 26, is a former professional football player for Dushanbe’s
Istiqlal club. He now heads deputy head of the Tajik Customs Service, and
is also president of Tajikistan’s Football Federation.

Many
observers are now asking if Emamali Rahman might have presidential ambitions of
a higher kind for his son.

Following
the precedent set by the ruling Aliyev family in Azerbaijan, there’s much
speculation that Rustam is being groomed to succeed his father in the next
elections in 2020.

The
husbands of some of President Rahman’s other daughters have also landed top
jobs.

One,
Shamsullah Sahibov, is currently Tajikistan’s commercial attaché in
London. Another, Mahmadzahir Sahibov, is in charge of the country’s overseas
trade missions.

It’s
a situation which infuriates some of Tajikistan’s opposition leaders.

“Over
50% of economic opportunities and facilities in the country belong to this
single family,” says Rahmatullah Zairov, the head of the Social Democratic
Party. “They regulate them, they possess them. It’s too much.”

Another
member of the family who has frequently been in the headlines in Tajikistan is
the president’s brother in law Hasan Asadullahzade.

He
runs one of the country’s major banks, Oryonbank, which is widely reported in
the Tajik media, to have a controlling stake in some of the country’s biggest
businesses.

However Deputy Economy Minister
Umed Dawlatzad, who used to be the deputy head of Oryonbank, plays down the
links between the bank, the family and big business.

“It’s
more important for me to know that all companies that you say belong to
Oryonbank are working well, he said. [And that they are] increasing our
productivity and creating more jobs for our people and contributing to the
budget of the country.”

Other
supporters of the president, like veteran politician Sultan Mirzashaev,
argue that it’s natural that Mr Rahman should want to surround himself with
competent and reliable people and that it’s irrelevant that some also happen to
be his relatives..

“Our
President has many children and relations,” he told the BBC. “Do you think they
shouldn’t work in Tajikistan just because they are from the presidential
family? Of course they should. Besides, they are not ignorant and all of them
are well-educated and experienced people”.

Access
to the Tajik first family is strictly controlled by the security services, but
occasional glimpses into their lifestyles do sometimes emerge.

Earlier
this year some footage was leaked to social media sites, showing President Rahman
leading the celebrations at his son Rustam’s wedding.

The
footage showing the president dancing enthusiastically, banging out a tune with
a spoon on an official’s head and singing out of tune with a professional
singer, prompted much hilarity in Tajik cyberspace.

But
observers were also quick to point out that the lavish eight-hour party
at an official government guest house, was a far cry from the modest three-hour
celebrations, which Mr Rahman himself has decreed the acceptable norm for
ordinary Tajiks in a new law to curb the tradition of spending huge amounts of
money on weddings.

Dadajan
Atavullaev, is the Berlin-based opposition activist who got hold of the wedding
video and broadcast it on his internet TV channel. After the footage was aired
he was briefly detained at Moscow airport, and later denied entry to Georgia on
a business trip, events which he claims were retaliation for the video.

“I
found out later that Rahman’s regime has put my name on Interpol’s wanted list
as a terrorist,” he says “All I wanted to do was to show that this
government based on family ties doesn’t care about people. They have turned
Tajikistan into a family business.”

But
few Tajiks based inside the country are willing to openly express their
discontent with the concentration of power in the hands of a few from a single
family.

Some
see the privileges of the ruling family as an unavoidable fact of life in a
post-Soviet country, and most fear the possible consequences of speaking
out.

Those
that do, often refer to the country’s anti-corruption law that prohibits state
officials from giving jobs to their close relatives. Why, they wonder,
doesn’t the president abide by his own law?